"Only the Holy Grail can bring an end to this endless vicious cycle."
He spoke as if talking to himself, then started walking again.
"I will use a miracle to change this world and reform the human soul. I will make the blood spilled in Fuyuki the last drop of blood humanity ever sheds. For that, I would bear all the sins in the world without hesitation."
The man's figure melted back into the darkness and vanished.
This time, Sakutsuki did not stop him.
The golden-eyed youth closed his eyes and softly hummed a tune.
"Even if I am covered in wounds..."
"Even when faced with a cruel fate..."
"My heart will still bloom with vivid light..."
"..."
You were right, Kiritsugu. The battlefield was hell to begin with. Chivalry could not bring salvation.
But that was merely judging by the result.
Abandoning the past, disregarding the future, judging only the present—acting as the switchman who killed the few to save the many in an endless trolley problem... yet never considering that someone could stop that murderous train bound for death, even if that someone was not you.
You were merely defeated by the dark and cruel reality, and gave up on dreams.
But the ideals left behind by generations of Heroic Spirits, the will passed down through the ages—those are humanity's future.
We walk beneath countless stars, Kiritsugu... and in the end, we too will become stars, lighting the road for those who come after us.
The Holy Grail cannot save humanity, just as this world never had gods to begin with.
If we truly wish to illuminate the darkness in people's hearts, then all we need is for there to be more and more stars.
*I have always believed that one day, the stars in the sky will